Within this month, the Long Range Surface to Air Missile (LRSAM) - a joint development project between India's Defence Research and Development organisation (DRDO) and Israel's Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) - will be fitted, integrated and put to test on board destroyer Kolkata.

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Jugal R Purohit

New Delhi

November 14, 2015

UPDATED: November 16, 2015 18:36 IST

Technology will allow forming an impenetrable shield around the INS Kolkata.

From the last week of October, the crew on board India's largest self-made warship, INS Kolkata, has been busier. Moving up and down along the western seaboard in the not-so-choppy waters of the Arabian sea, it is, after all, a moment which has been awaited for years. If it pays off, Indian naval ships will acquire and deploy technology which, in the words of a senior naval officer, is 'as good as it gets.'

Top sources within the Ministry of Defence (MoD) have confirmed that within this month, the Long Range Surface to Air Missile (LRSAM) - a joint development project between India's Defence Research and Development organisation (DRDO) and Israel's Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) - will be fitted, integrated and put to test on board destroyer Kolkata. The actual firing will take place, "if not this month then before the end of next month," according to a senior officer.

The first test will be followed by a series of firings, spread over weeks, possibly months, before finalisation. Induction is to take place by next year, if all goes well.

The LRSAM is nothing like anything the Indian Navy (IN) has operated so far. A generational shift over the in-use Barak 1 missile system which has been fitted on a host of naval ships, including aircraft carrier INS Viraat, the LRSAM guarantees protection to a ship from an aircraft or even a sea-skimming cruise missile. In doing so, it can detect and take on threats at distances up to 80km and even at a range as close as 500m. Meanwhile, Barak 1 with its range up to 9km has enthused the navy by its efficiency leading the men in white to eagerly await the LRSAM.

A diagram on the website of the IAI perfectly illustrates the job the navy has in mind for the LRSAM. The job is to form an impenetrable shield around the ship, from the surface of the sea and up.

Commenting on the progress of the system, a source pointed out, "In fact, installation of the entire missile system has been completed and we have been conducting trials on shore and then at sea using electronically generated targets as well as tracking live fighter aircraft to detect it within our ranges. This is done to simulate tracking and destruction of missiles which may be launched by the aircraft". It was also learnt that while the actual missile projectile was being shipped, at present, the integration, which involved installation of a sensor, fire control radar and linking of the system with the already-installed Multi Function Surveillance and Threat Alert Phased Array Radar (MF-STAR), was being fine-tuned. When the actual firing takes place, it will be against another missile fired a distance away from INS Kolkata. "We never take a chance by targeting our ship, as such taking out a missile targeting the ship directly is much easier," explained a source.

While there are many systems which claim to offer protection to ships against aircraft, very few can promise so against sea-skimming cruise missiles which IN's adversaries possess. That is because while an aircraft, given its size, is easy to track and attack, a sea-skimming missile induces what is called as 'nodding' in the radar which leads to the missile being unable to lock on to the target for its destruction. "The LRSAM has demonstrated the ability to do so quite efficiently," said a source.

In November 2014, the LRSAM was flight-tested "successfully" in an Israeli range where, according to DRDO, "all the systems including the radar, communication launch systems and the missile system performed as expected".

The project, which was to have fructified by 2012, has been hit by a variety of controversies including allegations of bribery which were pursued till found baseless and closed in December 2013. The navy wants to install the LRSAM onboard all its future warships and retrofit the same into the Kolkata-class of destroyers and on board the largest warship, the aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya.